The Memphis Grizzlies seem fixated on Ja Morant with their number two pick. Does this open a Mike Conley sized door for the Miami Heat?
The Miami Heat should be keeping a close eye on the situation that’s developing in Memphis and here’s why. The Memphis Grizzlies had to have come into Tuesday night’s draft lottery with an optimistic mindset as they faced a plethora of unknowns heading into the event. For more reasons than one, they were probably really unsure how happy they would be upon leaving Chicago.
According to NBA.com, they held the eighth slot in the lottery as it originally stood, but could have left without a pick at all. This would have been the case if they had landed somewhere between the ninth and eleventh picks, as it would have then been shipped right to the Boston Celtics as apart of a deal for Jeff Green a few years back. From their original eighth position, they had a six percent chance of landing the number one overall pick, something that has never occurred for the Memphis franchise.
They had a 6.3 percent chance of landing the second overall pick, while also being able to rest on the fact that they had a 26.2 percent chance of landing somewhere in the top four picks when it was all said and done. Lady Luck must have been in the building for the inhabitants of Grind City though because although they didn’t land the number one pick, they came out like bandits with the second overall pick.
It was imperative that they wound up somewhere other than 9, 10, or 11 though, as they also don’t have a second round pick in this draft as a part of another deal they executed on last season. Lucky for them, none of that ever came into play.
With the top two picks of this year’s draft seemingly locked up for months now, with Zion Williamson and Ja Morant the clear-cut numbers one and two prospects in the draft, the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t wait long to let their intentions be known. According to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and ESPN, the Memphis Grizzlies are “locked” on taking Morant at number two overall.
Source: Barring the unexpected, Memphis Grizzlies front office and ownership appear to have locked in on selecting Ja Morant with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and are informing parties in Chicago of such. That clears the way for R.J. Barrett to fall to the Knicks at #3.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 15, 2019
With that information available, it begs of the question, does this immediately make long-time Memphis point guard Mike Conley available? Although the Grizzlies haven’t said it publicly, it has been speculated upon already by many across the NBA landscape. More importantly, does it give the Miami Heat the opportunity they need to swoop in and take the veteran point guard off their hands?
These are questions that has to be popping up around many NBA team circles, but it should definitely be one in that of the Miami Heat. Although the Heat don’t appear to have the immediate cap space to take on a deal such as Conley’s at the moment, there are a few ways in which they could make it happen.
With the Miami Heat currently playing the waiting game with a few of their current players surrounding their player options, Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic to be exact, one or both deciding to opt out could clear the space. If one were to opt-out of their deal, that perhaps would be just enough room for the great Pat Riley to hammer some things out. Although it would be very unlikely with just one of those players opting out, you could never put anything past Riles.
If both players were to opt out, while also including the minimal cap relief that the Miami Heat will receive upon waiving Ryan Andersen prior to the July deadline, they would then definitely be in the neighborhood of having room enough to take on Conley’s deal. The major question in both the aforementioned scenarios though would be if they wanted to take on the remaining years of Conley’s contract at those rates, $32.5 million next season and $34.5 million in the season after next.
What would really make the situation a bit more interesting for the Miami Heat, is the thought of Jonas Valanciunas opting out of the final year of his contract with the Memphis Grizzlies for next season. Having a player option for $17.6 million himself, it is hard to gauge whether he will do so or not.
Valanciunas opting out would spice things up for a few reasons, and not just because the Heat would immediately be at their doorsteps. What this could possibly make way for is a trade benefiting both sides. This trade would see the Miami Heat send Hassan Whiteside to the Grizzlies, providing he opts into the final year of his deal with the Heat.
This would help Memphis rid themselves of Conley’s contract, give Ja Morant another big along with Jaren Jackson Jr. to develop with, while also setting themselves up with more cap space during next offseason after Whiteside’s deal clears the books. If the Miami Heat could possibly get themselves involved in a deal such as the one mentioned above, where they could essentially swap Whiteside’s money for Conley’s price tag, it may be something they’d entertain.
It seems like a lot at first glance, but that’s only because there are a number of possibilities. However, with the Grizzlies set on drafting the young self-proclaimed “Point God” out of Murray State, it certainly opens up some of these possibilities mentioned. It’ll be fun to see what happens.